"Native" wildflower mixes as weeds on Fort Ord?
Is Gilia tricolor a weed on Fort Ord?
A theory among a few of us (e.g. @nelsoid) is that there's some kind of imported wildflower seed mix behind some aberrant occurrences on Fort Ord. Some of the species are arguably weeds; native elsewhere in California but not to Fort Ord (*). And some are likely native to Fort Ord, but improbable in the degree to which they co-occur exactly where the presumed non-natives are (+).
Right under the Parker Flats BLM entrance sign to the National Monument, there's:
- Gilia tricolor ssp. tricolor (*) (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/218552292)
- Gilia capitata abrotanifolia (*) (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/218552359)
- Trifolium ciliolatum (*?)
- Collinsia heterophylla (+)
- Layia platyglossa (+)
Parker Flats north of west edge:
- Gilia tricolor ssp. tricolor (*) (large patch: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215165152)
- Gilia capitata (*) (according to @nelsoid)
- Collinsia heterophylla (+)
- Layia platyglossa (+)
Parker flats, south of west edge:
- Gilia tricolor (*) (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215165256)
Parker Flats / south of Veterans Cemetery:
- Gilia tricolor (*) (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215779206)
- Trifolium ciliolatum (*?)
CSUMB Main Campus between 6th and 7th in weedy areas after building demolition in 2017-2018 (and subsequent spray mulching from a truck that I'm pretty sure I remember seeing in progress):
- Gilia capitata ssp. abrotanifolia (*) (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/214292898)
- Trifolium ciliolatum (+) (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/111994834)
- Layia platyglossa (+)
- Collinsia heterophylla (+)
Other species could potentially be added to these lists, but they are a bit more common locally, and thus are harder to pin down as being associated with a wildflower seed mix e.g.: Castilleja exserta, Eschscholzia californica, Clarkia purpurea. Henrik might also add Nemophila menziesii to the list, over by CSUMB East Campus.
Just based on personal experience, I feel fairly comfortable saying that the Fort Ord non-natives include G. tricolor and G. capitata, although I haven't researched this specific question in detail yet. I'm less certain about Trifolium ciliolatum. The first CCH record anywhere near Fort Ord appears to be from 201), by Randy Morgan, on Pilarcitos Canyon Rd (perhaps in the "Clover Patch"?).
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On 5/22/24 at this location - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215165152- David Styer collected what I called (without consulting any key) G. capitata. He told me… “Back to last Wednesday, the other gilia comes out G. achilleifolia, rather than G. capitata. The head is not nearly as complete a sphere as it should be for G. capitata.”
I wouldn’t argue with any ID made by David S or Fred. I did tell David that the G. achilleifolia I see in the Santa Lucias doesn’t at all resemble what we saw on P flats. You can search my observations for gilias which others have agreed with. Of course, drawing any parallels between floras of the Santa Lucias and FO might be comparing apples to oranges or at least crab apples.
Near my home I often hike on private ’groomed wilderness’ E and S of esalen institute. We see many non native natives and alien flowers apparently escapees from wildflower mixes.
My guess is that there are two sources of "seed mix" annuals such as this one https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/118317151
One is the seed packets that get mailed out gratis and end up in the hands of apartment dwellers who can't imagine throwing them in the trash... so they get "sowed" at entrances or alongside common trails.
The other source may be the "seed bombs" I see discussed on-line. The idea behind them is not that they should be tossed on places like Fort Ord, but rather "vacant lots" generally in and around neighborhoods. In addition to @yerbasanta hypothesis of fuel reduction equipment spreading seeds this past August, I think this explains some of the non-local California natives found around East Campus housing. I'm not so concerned with people sowing those in areas next to houses that are usually Bromus and Carpobrotus dominated. But I do worry about the more newly invading exotic perennials like Cistus that seem perfectly adapted to our area.
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=19213&postnum=19213
https://wildseedproject.net/2016/10/native-seed-bombs-dispersing-seeds-with-guerilla-action/
https://www.reddit.com/r/GuerrillaGardening/comments/tc4d08/diy_seed_bombs_for_native_wildflowers/
https://woodlarkblog.com/diy-wildflower-seed-bombs/
https://laidbackgardener.blog/2020/09/05/seed-bombing-spread-the-joy/
Thanks @nelsoid. Yes. I wavered on the capitata vs achiellifolia choice for quite a while before settling on capitata for this observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/214292898. I think the characteristics of individual flowers fall pretty cleanly into capitata: throat < tube, stamens reaching to exceeding the corolla lobes. My thinking on the head shape is that it only applies to the largest plants, and that smaller plants can frequently be much less than spheric. There's certainly a lot of variation in the sphericity within the population. See Photo 4 at the link above for a field of more-spheric heads within a population that also has plenty of essentially non-spheric heads.
If that one (linked above) is capitata, then I would think so too could be any like it on Fort Ord with similar morphology of individual flowers (not heads).
But it's a thought in progress for sure. Maybe I'll do some lit review. I notice that at least ssp. chamissonis has swapped from one species to the other. So there's been some wavering in the literature too.
David Styer found another patch of Clarkia amoena and we visited it today. He believes he remembers crews working near the trail 65 trailhead- it’s another one on MPC FO property. Didn’t notice any Gilia capitata/achilleafolia. INat observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/226946437
This is getting weirder. Is the mention hinting at the possibility that the "crews" might have been the vector?
I think David and Bruce say common threads for these sites is recent work on MPC owned sites or their crews parking near these sites.
That is interesting. Remember the cornflower we found at one of the informal "entrances" to Fort Ord? https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/118317151
Cistus is probably not a wildflower seed mix component, but it looks like it is being disseminated via mulching activities. I think they brought masticated/mulched material from other parts of Fort Ord to line the new BLM trails up around Little Moab. There are lots of Cistus adults and seedlings in that area now.
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